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Empowered Health: Fraser Valley man finds peace in isolation

Dave Nash was experiencing insomnia as a result of job stress. To relieve the stress he began spending time in an isolation tank at Cloud 9 flotation therapy centre in Abbotsford. The therapy sees the subject lying in a few inches of warm, salt-filled water without outside distractions.

Photograph by: Mark van Manen Mark van Manen
, Vancouver Sun

Ask the average person what they know about flotation therapy and, if they know anything about it at all, it’s probably a memory of actor William Hurt turning into a prehistoric man in the 1980 movie Altered States.

Psychologist Peter Suedfeld remembers. And not fondly.

“It was a bad movie,” Suedfeld, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of B.C. said. “The people who were attracted to it (flotation technique) and looking for a thrill would not come back. That sort of overshadowed it as a useful treatment technique. There was a brief spurt of interest, but that was counterproductive in the long run.”

However, a growing body of evidence shows that flotation therapy has myriad benefits. Suedfeld, who researched the technique for nearly a decade, lists the symptoms that floating in a tank of warm, salty water can help alleviate.

“Tension headaches, insomnia. It lowers blood pressure in people who have high blood pressure. It enlarges the range of movement for people who suffer from arthritis. It makes you feel much more relaxed than relaxation training or meditation. It enhances learning, motor skills and, in every sport it’s been tried in, perceptual motor coordination.”

A European study, still underway, is showing early positive effects for people suffering from fibromyalgia, a painful medical disorder. “Another report shows it’s an aid in training people on flight simulators,” said Suedfeld. “It enables you to have more positive memories, and some evidence says that it enhances creativity in science and music.”

At nearly 30, Dave Nash is too young to remember Altered States.

An Abbotsford resident who works in sales, Nash first heard about flotation therapy on a podcast by comedian and flotation technique advocate Joe Rogan. Nash recalled a former co-worker, Travis McLaren, who had talked about opening a flotation centre. Thanks to Google, the two were reunited at McLaren’s Cloud 9 Float Spa in Abbotsford.

Nash said he started going for “multiple reasons,” including stress relief. But he soon found it had other benefits as well.

“I haven’t been diagnosed with insomnia, but I have trouble sleeping, and with staying asleep,” Nash said. “But I’ve just kind of dealt with it.”

After his first float, Nash said, he slept through the night three nights in a row.

Flotation therapy, or technique, involves floating in a tank in several inches of water. The water is body-temperature and filled with Epsom salts to aid in the floating process.

Cloud 9 offers two floating options, a tank and a tub. The tank is a traditional floating environment while the tub is for people who might not be comfortable in an enclosed space. The floater controls the light. With ears submerged (or fitted with plugs), little or no sound reaches him or her.

The idea is that the user will reach a state of extreme relaxation, ideal for problem solving, clarity and creativity.

An initial 60-minute float is $30, with subsequent sessions for $45. Cloud 9 also offers longer sessions and float packages.

Nash had his first session in early October of 2012. “I had some really big breakthroughs and personal developments I was really happy about,” he said. “A lot of it was to do with career, where some of my shortcomings and weaknesses are, and how I can improve them. I was also able to determine where a good deal of my stress is coming from, and a plan to deal with it. And it’s already working quite well.”

He’s gone back several times. “A couple of times I forgot where I was, but not in an alarming way, just in a really comfortable way. To me it’s like cake, where there’s layers. The first layer is where I think of annoyances, stuff that I need to get done. The flotation tank allows me to forget about those things and spend more time thinking about the things you don’t always get to.”

Suedfeld thinks flotation should be more popular than it is. But it takes money and commitment to open and maintain a flotation tank facility. And then there’s that movie.

“It made people think they were going to have strange and bizarre experiences. Many people who could be using it think it’s too expensive or too unusual. But flotation technique is a really powerful tool for treatment.”

Dave Nash was experiencing insomnia as a result of job stress. To relieve the stress he began spending time in an isolation tank at Cloud 9 flotation therapy centre in Abbotsford. The therapy sees the subject lying in a few inches of warm, salt-filled water without outside distractions.

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